


Firmer Ground

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Category: Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis
Genre: Families of Choice, Friendship, M/M, Roxis Is Not An Idiot, Sulpher is a smartass, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-03-10 21:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3304238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can only have your support shot out from under you so many times before you look for firmer ground to stand on. </p>
<p>There are more than enough reasons to suspect that Vayne Aurelius is not what he seems. Roxis is driving himself to distraction trying to put the pieces together and finds himself wishing that they'd all just fall into place already.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Laryna6](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laryna6/gifts).



> GIfted to Laryna6 because this is all their fault.

He couldn't have been the only one to realise. Even as obsessive as he tended to be, even considering how much more he was given to thinking of all angles of a situation than the others of his workshop, he simply couldn't have been the only one to put all the facts together. His workshopmates might be an odd, mismatched lot but they weren't (usually) completely dense.

Roxis believed in distilling things down to their simplest elements and studying how they fit together to create a more complicated whole. It was that ability that had made him skilled at alchemical research before ever attracting a Mana of his own, that had made it possible for him to earn his place at Al-Revis amongst those who _did_ have Mana.

If Sulpher was dying, and Mana didn't age or die, then the obvious conclusion was that Sulpher _wasn't_ a Mana. But Vayne clearly could, and did, draw on Mana power during synthesis and in battle. The only other person in Vayne and Sulpher's contract- because even if Sulpher was no Mana, there was still a contract between them, their bond was so obviously a real one that even Roxis couldn't refute it no matter how he wanted to- was Vayne.

All that kept Roxis from voicing his thoughts aloud was the how utterly _impossible_ the logical conclusion was. It may have logically followed, but it wasn't logically _possible_. Obsessive as he was, determined to make it into the Academy as he was, Roxis had read reams of books and scrolls on Mana, all kinds of Mana, every kind of Mana imaginable and a few he'd never have imagined existed. With access to the school library, as much as he disliked the Resource Center, he studied even more and reconfirmed what he already knew.

There was no mention, anywhere, of anything like Vayne. There had been very, very few humanoid Mana, and none of them had ever been _anything_ like Vayne.

Yet it was clear there was something not right about this situation. It was clear, too, that Isolde knew something, but Roxis was not sure he trusted her enough to ask, and he _was_ sure he didn't dare trust her answer if he did.

For now, at least, he did the only thing he could. He studied Vayne himself, discreetly, when no one else was paying attention.

Or at least, he'd planned for it to be when no one else was paying attention. To his surprise, it was stunningly difficult to find a time when at least one person in the workshop wasn't paying a great deal of attention, and doubly difficult to find a time when one of them wasn't paying an inordinate amount of attention to _Vayne_.

Roxis was clearly going to have to rethink his opinion of just how Flay's workshop had formed.

It was nothing like being in Isolde's workshop. Tony and Renee had never truly worked _with_ him; it was trying enough to convince them to work with each other. Flay's workshop was so far at the other end of the spectrum that its members were very nearly lacking any concept of privacy.

Flay, Anna, and Nikki all protected Vayne, and Pamela tried in her own way to protect all the members of the workshop, and Anna had joined them in it inside of just one week. Even _Muppy_ joined in, though to a far lesser extent. It was so subtly and skillfully done that Roxis doubted Vayne had ever noticed- after all, he protected them in turn whenever he could, and it was likely that he and Jess and Nikki at least thought that all the workshops were like this.

Roxis knew they weren't.

Flay and his workshop were _different_. All workshops worked together, although not always well; after all, the entire reason for their existence was that alchemists left to their own devices tended to be a standoffish lot, and they had far fewer homicidal tendencies crop up in alchemists who'd learned to play nice with others.

Flay's workshop worked together, lived together, played together. Every trip for supplies was an excuse for an adventure and for camping out under the stars. Roxis hardly remembered what the inside of his dorm room looked like anymore. Every time one member went haring off on some kind of hastily-planned adventure (it was usually Flay), every other member followed them. They bickered and fought, but it never lasted very long.

Isolde's workshop had been an alliance, where Flay's workshop was a _team_.

Roxis was a part of that team now- whether or not he wanted to be, clearly.

At the very least, it made it easier to study Vayne than being outside the workshop would have. Flay and Anna could be especially vicious to anyone they suspected of endangering their teammates, but Roxis they trusted by virtue of his being a part of their group, unwilling member or not.

Now, for example, they were camped deep in the Dragon Graveyard for the night after a long day of gathering materials and battling enemies. Even Roxis had to admit there was a feeling of glorious _rightness_ in battle with the others that he'd never felt before- they anticipated each other's skills and needs, wove in and out of the fight as easily as breathing, and all on a level of wordless communication he'd never seen before outside of a human-Mana pact.

Roxis looked around the campsite. Muppy had taken first watch and was finding himself a comfortable spot near where the path narrowed into their campsite. Jess was rustling around inside her bag, gradually accumulating materials that Anna and Pamela were using to build a lean-to against the log that Nikki and Vayne were both perched on, helping Sulpher to catch fish as Flay, ankle-deep in the stream, yelled unhelpful advice and scared away all but the smallest fish. Sulpher's slowly lashing tail was the only sign that the unhelpful advice was also _unwelcome_ advice, but even he didn't seem too put out, and Nikki and Vayne were clearly having fun.

Even if Vayne flinched a little every time Flay shouted, or whenever Nikki darted past him too abruptly. Even though, now he was looking for it, Roxis saw the way that the girls set up camp swiftly while Flay distracted Vayne and the way they made sure Vayne's sleeping roll was in the middle. It was clear enough Vayne hadn't invented his story about growing up in the woods and being chased out of human settlements- he still showed every sign of it. He was wary around new people, and Roxis had seen him wince away from blows that could _never_ happen- Jess and Nikki would rather tear their own hearts out than hurt Vayne, he was sure of it. Even Flay, though he was a lot more physical than the others were with Vayne, would never seriously hurt him.

It was clear enough that Vayne knew this- but he still startled easily.

It made it all the more confusing that Vayne was such a damnably trusting person.

Now that he was paying attention, Roxis was realising that Flay's workshop was actually _Vayne's_ workshop, and everyone knew it but Vayne.

And, even though he didn't want to acknowledge it, Roxis could see why. It was hard to remember that Vayne was as old as the rest of them, because he didn't _act_ like it. He acted- well, like he'd never seen another friendly human being before coming to Al-Revis, to put it bluntly.

Which, as was more obvious when Roxis really thought about it, he _hadn't_. He'd as good as said so on more than one occasion.

Without the friends he'd made so quickly, Vayne would have been eaten alive by the rest of the Academy. Vayne did anything anyone asked of him, often without it ever even occurring to him to ask questions- that was a terrible trait in an alchemist. It was _asking_ to be exploited. _Vayne_ was asking to be exploited.

The worst thing was that Vayne so clearly didn't understand.

He only wanted to help people. Now, that _was_ a good trait in an alchemist, but not when that alchemist was someone who didn't know how to distinguish which people genuinely needed help, which people merely wanted help, and which people might have darker reasons for requesting help.

Only half consciously, Roxis made up his mind to be the one to teach Vayne how to tell the difference.


	2. Maybe I'm A Lion

 

 

"No one's here," Roxis observed, surveying the empty workshop with a sigh. "I'll grant that it _is_ early, but I thought maybe Anna, at least..."

His Mana cut him off. She did that a lot. "You're not looking hard enough. It's not empty."

"Or you're simply messing with me again," Roxis muttered, but quietly. His bond with the Mana of Light was still uncertain enough that he wasn't comfortable testing the boundaries of it. He was still getting used to the feeling of having another soul sharing his mind and heart; having a pacted Mana was much more intimate than he'd ever realised. It was probably due to her element, but the entire world had seemed so much _brighter_ since he'd pacted with Eital. It made him wonder that Vayne had spent his entire life pacted with Sulpher- what would it have been like to have _always_ shared every detail of his life with Eital like that?

"You're still dithering, you know. Go look already."

Very embarassing, he suspected.

It wasn't long before he found Vayne, curled up in a patch of sunlight on the loft floor and sound asleep. Behind him, Sulpher lay sprawled across the portion of the couch that was in direct sun.

Roxis sighed. "A couch right behind him and he gives it to Sulpher. Typical."

"You could learn from him," his Mana said wickedly, manifesting beside him and tilting her head at him.

"Or _you_ could," Roxis countered, and smiled to himself in satisfaction when Eital didn't reply. She'd never yet confirmed his suspicions, but she'd never outright denied them, either.

He hadn't realised how loud they were until Vayne muttered something in his sleep and twitched slightly, bringing his side more fully into the sun.

"That's odd," Roxis noted, and at Eital's nudge of inquiry in his mind, continued in a hushed voice. "Normally our conversation would have been more than enough to wake Vayne. He's a very light sleeper."

A soft meow alerted him to the fact that Sulpher, at least, was awake and staring straight at him. When Roxis turned to meet the cat's gaze, Sulpher flicked his eyes from Vayne back to Roxis, tilted his head, and meowed in a very different tone.

"I wish I could understand you as well as he does," Roxis said, frustrated beyond words.

The moment the words left his mouth, Vayne shuddered again, then went still. Roxis stared at him a long moment, because it felt like something had just gone threading through his link with Eital and lodged halfway between his mind and soul, and it was an _extremely_ odd feeling that he couldn't help but associate with the other boy. Finally he transferred his attention back to Sulpher.

Sulpher favoured him with a long, slow blink. Then his face transformed into a feline grin and he said, in a very human voice, "You've always managed well enough."

"What-" Roxis shook his head. "I can't have heard that."

" _I_ heard that," Eital put in unhelpfully. This time, Roxis felt safe in ignoring her.

"Well, _I_ think you're hallucinating." Sulpher lashed his tail and stared at Roxis again. "Have you been drinking Jess' medicine again? It's a bad idea, you know."

A bit stunned and starting to wonder if he actually _was_ hallucinating (after all, Jess had been known to slip her medicine into people's food before), Roxis decided to return to his original concern. "What are you both doing sleeping in the workshop?"

"He didn't want to sleep in the dorm." Sulpher flicked his tail again.

Roxis waited for the cat to elaborate, then sighed when he realised he wasn't going to. "I can see that. Why not?"

Instead of replying, Sulpher put his head on his paws, curled his tail around his eyes and went right back to sleep.

Eital snickered. "I think that means 'Figure it out yourself."

"Yes, thanks, I'd worked that one out for myself," Roxis snapped, then recoiled and looked at his Mana. "Please, excuse me. I didn't mean that."

"Of course you did. Come on now, it's more fun if you snap back, anyway." She sat down and studied Sulpher, who ignored her as completely as he did Roxis, and Vayne, who was still deeply asleep. "Don't you hate him? You're very concerned all of a sudden."

"What kind of trick question is that? You're the one forcing us to be friends." Roxis finally knelt down next to Vayne, irritated now. He didn't know what posessed him to lean over and brush hair out of the other alchemist's eyes. If he was asked, he'd have said it was to distract himself from his nagging Mana.

The light touch was enough to wake Vayne where their voices hadn't been.

Vayne shot upright, nearly cracking his head on the underside of Roxis' jaw, and threw himself into the loft corner without pausing long enough to give coherent thought a chance.

Roxis held himself perfectly still and stayed silent. He still didn't like Vayne, but the boy was plainly terrified, and Roxis wasn't heartless. So he waited until Sulpher spoke and broke the standoff.

"It's just Roxis, Vayne. He was only wishing to know why you were sleeping in the workshop."

_That's an odd way to phrase it_ , Roxis thought, and felt Eital's surprise and agreement before he was distracted by Vayne's stammered reply.

"There's- that creepy guy who hangs out in the common room? At the- the dorm? You kn-know the guy, he's always talking about the freshmen..." Vayne's tendency to trail off at the end of sentences was beyond frustrating, so Roxis nodded sharply at him to continue, then regretted it when Vayne seemed to shrink in on himself.

"I meant continue," Roxis said, as gently as he could. He was uncomfortably aware that he was still crouched on a floor with a hand extended in Vayne's direction, like he was trying to coax a wild animal closer, and that Eital was laughing at him again.

"Oh. O- okay." Vayne didn't look reassured, but he took up the thread of his story and relaxed a little from his defensive curl. "He keeps asking me to come hang out with him. I-I'll _go_ , but then he just _stares_ at me until I run off 'cause I _know_ he's about to ask me to do something else and I don't- don't _want_ to, and it just- it makes me really uncomfortable."

It took a moment for all the implications of that to sink in, but when they did, Roxis winced. "Vayne, I really wish you'd learn how to say no to people."

"As do I," Sulpher contributed, making Roxis start badly. The cat continued where Roxis left off, though. "Unfortunately that's a useless wish. You'll never be able to."

"That seems harsh," Roxis said, surprised into a response.

Vayne blinked at him as Roxis climbed to his feet and, after a moment of inward deliberation, offered Vayne a hand up. "You understood that?"

"I understood that wasn't a happy noise," Roxis hedged, not wanting to admit to Vayne just yet that he could hear Sulpher.

"Oh." Vayne actually looked disappointed. "I thought maybe... never mind."

Roxis sighed as he hauled the younger alchemist to his feet. "If you're that uncomfortable around him, just don't go near him without Flay with you. Or myself," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"I told you to wait for Roxis last night," Sulpher put in, surprising Roxis yet again. Sulpher's tail lashed against the couch as he said, "He would have kept you from putting yourself in that situation."

That was true, but Roxis wasn't sure he liked the way Sulpher said it. He wasn't Vayne's babysitter. Even if he'd wanted that position, he'd have had to get in line behind Jess, Flay, and Sulpher himself. He was glad he didn't have to dignify that comment with a response. "Vayne, how sleep-deprived are you? I'd planned on synthesizing more X-Heals before the rest arrive today. Nikki wants to go exploring under the Old Schoolhouse again." Frankly, Roxis wished they'd never found the place. The rare items they could find weren't worth the inevitable trip to the infirmary.

Of course, the elemental cores _were_ invaluable when synthesizing weaponry, but if Nikki and Flay insisted on challenging every creature they came across they'd never find just how far the strange area under the Old Schoolhouse extended- and what else might be hidden down there.

"If we're going back there, we should synth as many healing items as we possibly can," Vayne said, brightening more than simply synthesizing warranted. "We should get a head start." He jumped off the loft before Roxis could reply.

Sulpher jumped off the couch to follow Vayne, but before leaping from the loft itself he turned to lock eyes with Roxis.

"You should be keeping him away from people like that," Roxis told the cat after a moment's deliberation. "You know very well he doesn't know how to recognise cruel intent when he sees it."

Sulpher blinked at him, once, slowly. Then, just when Roxis was beginning to wonder if he'd only imagined he'd heard him, the cat said, "Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't possibly be the only one that dude was creeping out.


	3. It's Difficult Standing On Both Feet, Isn't It

 

 

"So if we take these shoes, here, and then we round off some of these gears like _this_ and we attach them like _that_ and we can use some clear fibers for laces-"

"Nikki, I'm... not so sure this is a good idea..." Vayne's expression was more confused than alarmed as he watched Nikki gleefully combining ingredients, though. He did look to Sulpher once or twice, but when Sulpher merely twitched an ear at him, Vayne seemed content enough to synth fibers for Nikki.

From his spot near the window, Roxis merely watched them. If Sulpher wasn't going to interfere, then neither was he. Vayne looked at him a few times, too, with an expression caught somewhere between guilt and hope, but Roxis inclined his head briefly and Vayne went back to what he was doing.

Roxis heard Sulpher laugh at him and felt the tips of his ears burn red.

He hadn't told anyone he could hear Sulpher, hadn't mentioned it even to Vayne. Sulpher showed no inclination to mention it at all.

It was only Eital's affirmation that made Roxis sure he was really hearing Sulpher and not simply hallucinating. He'd done nothing but wish he could understand the cat better. That shouldn't have made it possible.

What _was_ Vayne, the Mana of Impossible Communication?

Roxis actually went and looked it up to be sure that there _wasn't_ a Mana of Communication running around unaccounted for somewhere.

The most confusing thing about this situation was that if Vayne really was a Mana, and Roxis had all but admitted to himself that he _had_ to be, Vayne didn't seem to know it. Vayne was nowhere near duplicitous enough to hide a secret that big from the rest of the workshop.

He'd think, too, that even as much as Eital enjoyed yanking him around that _she'd_ at least think to mention if there were any Mana missing that might, possibly, be amnesiacs attending Al-Revis and sharing her pacted human's workshop. Yet he could tell that she was baffled as he was. She'd finally admitted to him, privately, that she agreed with him that Vayne had to be a Mana.

Because it had never been more obvious that Sulpher _wasn't._

Nikki bounced into Roxis' field of vision dangling a pair of skates that looked like they could double as weapons, beaming and dragging Roxis from his circling thoughts before he could become trapped in them. "Roxy! We're going skating, let's go, let's go before everyone else gets here, we only made three pairs an' they'll all want to come!"

Roxis thought about pointing out how that only applied to Jess and Flay, because Anna had more sense and Pamela could float and Muppy had no feet, but thought better of it.

He refrained from commenting even as the three of them made the trek deep into the Old Schoolhouse, but when they reached the farthest room in and Nikki demanded he put his pair on and race them both back to the entrance, he balked.

"We're going to break all our necks," Roxis muttered, even as he laced up the skates. After all, Vayne already had his on and was wobbling cautiously around the room. "We are all going to break our necks. Do you two realise we're about to break our necks?" he demanded suddenly, looking up at them.

"Yes," Sulpher said, which wasn't the support Roxis was looking for.

"Spoilsport!" Nikki crowed, standing up and starting to skate circles around them both. She tugged Roxis to his feet the second he finished lacing the skates. "Come on, come on, come _on_!"

"It's fun," Vayne said softly, testing his control by edging around before heading for the hallway. Sulpher didn't do anything so undignified as to run after him, but he did stroll quickly out the door as soon as Vayne was past it.

Roxis was never quite sure what made him decide to race Nikki and Vayne down the hallway after all. It was probably just the fact that if Vayne could do it, then so could he. They'd cleared the monsters from the area before attempting to race, which was a foresight Roxis was grateful for- Nikki was the only one of the three of them who was _any_ good at steering, and between Vayne and himself they'd have bumped into every enemy along the way as they raced back to the staircase.

As it was, it was the staircase itself that defeated them.

Nikki stopped just before the stairs, turned with a grin and a wave to show she'd won. The grin fell off her face as Vayne, unable to stop, careened into her. Right behind them, Roxis watched in horror as Nikki twisted her body impossibly in midair to skid along the stone at the bottom, claws scoring marks in the floor. She broke Vayne's fall, but he still managed to hit several steps on the way down and ended up with one leg twisted under him at a strange angle.

" _Vayne!_ " Sulpher streaked past Roxis, overbalancing him, causing Roxis' world to slow down as he followed his workshopmates down the stairs. Suddenly hyper-aware of his surroundings, he saw the naked panic in Nikki's expression, the pain in Vayne's eyes as the younger boy bit his lip to keep from crying out, the way Sulpher wound around Vayne's uninjured leg meowing plaintively like that would help. He'd look back on that moment later and realise it was absolutely the only time he'd ever seen Sulpher actually panic.

Then he hit the bottom, hard, and wasn't aware of anything at all for quite some time.


	4. Lurking in the Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am about to take some liberties with healing items, because I can. And it's convenient to the plot. Sorry about that!

 

 

Roxis was used to waking up all at once. It had, after all, been a necessary skill for most of his life. Therefore, this waking up in stages he seemed to be doing was nearly as unnerving as the initial fall down the stairs had been. He was lying on his back on hard stone, his head was pillowed on something soft, there was an inexplicable weight on his chest and a horrible scent from somewhere, and the last thing he remembered was being in the workshop with Nikki convincing Vayne to try and synthesize what she called skates.

"Are you awake?" Vayne's voice was as soft as always, but it still made Roxis wince.

Then he opened his eyes, and even the fading light in the room made him slam them shut again. "Unfortunately, yes, I'm awake."

"Unfortunately?" Vayne shifted, making Roxis realise that the other boy was sitting right beside him.

"My head... is _killing_ me. I'd almost rather... have stayed unconscious." Maybe if he spoke slowly and quietly, his head wouldn't protest so much. After all, now that he was a little more properly awake, Vayne's voice didn't sound quite so harsh. Oh, thank every spirit he know of it wasn't Nikki... holding vigil over him? Whatever Vayne was doing. 

Or Flay. Flay would be disastrous to his head in this state.

"What happened?" Roxis decided, tentatively, to open his eyes again. He immediately regretted it but he kept them open just the same. It was painful, yes, but he _needed_ to know what was going on.

He assessed the situation as quickly as possible. He was in one of the dilapidated classrooms of the Old Schoolhouse. Vayne was sitting next to him, curled almost into the nearly feline position he seemed to prefer, but prevented by the unnatural way his right leg was twisted. The 'pillow' was one of the spare uniforms they'd had with them. Vayne had a half-empty X-Heal at his side.

The weight pinning Roxis in place was Sulpher, curled up on top of his chest like he belonged there. Like he wasn't already bonded so closely to Vayne. Like Roxis didn't already have a Mana. Like it was nothing out of the ordinary. And, now that Roxis was awake, Sulpher was spitting out a gash twig in disgust- apparently the cat had been holding the bitter herb near Roxis' nose to wake him.

And the shadow in Vayne's eyes as he looked at Roxis and Sulpher made it clear that this _wasn't_ normal. Roxis couldn't think of a time he'd ever seen Sulpher willingly initiate physical contact with anyone but Vayne before. He'd certainly not seen the cat show concern for anyone else's welfare unless Vayne asked it of him- and going by the other alchemist's expression, this time Sulpher hadn't waited for Vayne to ask it of him.

"Nikki wanted to make skates," Vayne said, dropping his eyes to the floor. "We were racing. We all fell down the stairs. Nikki was okay, she left to get help, but I, um... hurt my leg...sorry... and you hit your head, and then you didn't get up. And we didn't bring any Nectar this time, so... "

"Why didn't you just use the Wings of Icarus, then?" Roxis started to sit up, but a growl from Sulpher stopped him.

"Nikki never remembers to bring hers, you didn't seem to have yours, and mine broke when I fell." He showed Roxis a handful of sad- looking feather charms. The pendant was clearly beyond repair.

Tony had taken Roxis', saying it would help him train if he didn't have an easy out. Roxis had never gotten around to getting a new one. It hadn't seemed like it would be a problem, especially after switching workshops- sure, Roxis went out on his own as often as the rest (except Vayne, who nearly always had _someone_ insisting on accompanying him, even on simple gathering trips) but he knew enough to avoid areas where he was likely to need the Wings if he was out alone.

"We had X-Heals with us, didn't we?" Roxis asked, trying to remember, but coming up with a blank. They always had healing medicine on them, though. Vayne always double-checked to make sure they had enough X-Heals and Heal Jars to cover them in nearly any situation, he'd done that since before Roxis had joined the workshop. Even their lack of Nectar was unusual, owing mostly to having been low on ingredients. "Didn't you drink any? Your leg shouldn't still be hurt." He was trying to avoid saying broken, because a broken leg at Al-Revis could be very, very bad- the school had _no_ classes that didn't require physical activity of some kind. Luckily, the stronger healing medicines could heal nearly any wound that wasn't fatal, and even the lesser ones could heal a great deal especially if you'd taken many of them. For them to work well, though, you couldn't wait too long after an injury- it slowed the effect by a staggering amount. If Vayne took enough healing medicine now, it would only take days for his leg to heal, even if it _was_ broken. If he waited, though, it could end up taking weeks or even months depending on the severity of the break. That could seriously set back a graduation date.

"I drank two." Vayne was still avoiding his gaze. "I was saving the third one for you, but Sulpher said I should at least drink half of it."

Roxis tried again to sit up. This time, Sulpher let him, leaping down to curl up on the floor between them both and letting Roxis get a clear view at Vayne's leg.

It was easy to see it was a bad break; the X-Heals didn't seem to have helped at all. In fact... Roxis frowned as he looked closer. Something about the break had immediately looked strange to him, but now that he looked closer, he realised it wasn't the break that was bothering him. Something about Vayne's _leg_ looked strange.

It was hard to tell what, exactly, it was, but Roxis had the strangest impression that Vayne's leg looked like it had been put together by someone who didn't particularly care about more than surface accuracy. Everything _looked_ right, but... But. Something was strange, was all.

Roxis started to climb to his feet, only to quickly discover that was _not_ an option and end up slumped back in the exact position he started in. "Well _that_ was a bad idea," he mumbled, even as he glanced around the room. It was nearing night, and although there were no monsters in the room with them- presumably Nikki had stuck around at least long enough to deal with _that_ problem- there was always the possibility, no matter how slim, that one of them would come barreling into the room once it got dark and the monsters became energized. "...We should have a barricade up for the night," he said at last.

"Neither one of you is in any condition to be building one," Sulpher was quick to point out, lashing his tail.

"We are doubly in no condition to fend off an attack," Roxis shot back, remembering too late that he shouldn't have been replying. Luckily, Vayne still seemed totally content with Roxis' previous explanation that he was perfectly capable of translating feline language. It wasn't as much of a stretch as it could have been- he usually understood his own cat, Fionn, as well as could be expected. All right, Fionn was a kitten and his commentary tended to be less complex than Sulpher's (it was largely limited to 'feed me,' 'pay attention to me,' and 'let me out,' but he was still a kitten), but still. Roxis felt he'd proven by now that could understand cats just fine.

And none of these thoughts were getting the door blocked. When he started to struggle to his feet again, though, Vayne pushed him back down as Eital materialized beside them.

"Will both you stubborn creatures stay put?" she demanded. "Sulpher and I are capable of guarding the door. I expect the both of you to manage a better show of healing by dawn."

"You _can_ let me up, you know," Roxis groused at Vayne after Eital and Sulpher had resettled themselves before the door. Eital was keeping an eye out, but even as it got darker Roxis could still see Sulpher's eyes glowing near the doorway, directed back at Vayne. "We're both hurt, and you're hurt worse."

"No," Vayne said stubbornly, keeping his palm spread against Roxis' chest. He wasn't exerting any pressure, but then, he didn't need to be. "You've got a head injury. You don't _know_ how bad it is."

Roxis almost snapped at him but checked himself in time. For all he really, truly _knew_ about the other boy, Vayne could have lost someone to a head injury in the past. All right, he'd said he had no family, but he also had very little memory, and Roxis had trouble picturing Vayne alone and friendless in the woods for reasons he didn't want to examine too closely. "At least help me sit up so I can get a good look at your leg," Roxis said at last, resigning himself to a long, sleepless night.

 


	5. Kids Run Through The City

 

 

           It took some doing, but eventually the two of them made themselves comfortable in a back corner of the room behind several crates. Full dark had set in, so Roxis dug out a canone rock to use as a candle and scattered some glowing petals around them. Then, putting a note of command into his voice without meaning to, Roxis said, "All right, let me see your leg."

 

            They were seated at right angles to each other, since Roxis wanted to be able to see what he was doing and neither Vayne nor Eital would let him get up.

 

            "Okay," Vayne mumbled, subdued now. He seemed to have used up all his assertiveness in insisting Roxis stay off his feet. Now, especially with Roxis' accidental demanding demeanor, he'd reverted back to the scared and shy act that had infuriated Roxis when he'd been convinced it was nothing _but_ an act.   He knew better now- while it was true that Vayne did show a core of steel when his friends were in trouble, the younger boy had always preferred to stay quietly in the background, usually right up until Flay went ahead and dragged him into the thick of things.

 

            Of course, it didn't help matters any that Vayne was still quite uneasy any time he was left alone with Roxis. He'd reached the point already where Flay would have been a welcome presence. Even though it ran completely counter to everything Roxis knew about the two other young men, Flay's presence always seemed to calm Vayne.

 

            Deep in thought, wondering to himself for the first time about the way Flay always seemed to be keeping something back, some knowledge of his that he'd chosen not to share, Roxis almost missed it when something in Vayne's leg simply... clicked into place.

 

            _That can't have just happened._

 

           Roxis moved his hand back. Whatever it was clicked back _out_ of place, and then back _in_ , and it was only Vayne's suppressed hiss of pain and Sulpher's less subtle hiss of displeasure that brought Roxis violently back to himself.

 

            Sulpher was staring at him, two bright pinpricks of light in the otherwise dark room. Roxis realised it had been longer than he'd thought. The rock and petals had all lost whatever glow they'd had some time ago.

 

            He scrambled for a moment for something to say, finally settling on, "Well, your leg isn't broken." Except it had been, only not in anything like a normal way, and- he wasn't sure he was up to dealing with this right after a traumatic head injury, honestly. His head already ached quite enough, thank you.

 

            He watched as Sulpher padded across the room towards them, only able to track the cat by his reflective eyes. Sulpher settled himself comfortably in the corner between the two boys and said, "Nikki must have made it back by now. If there's been no help yet, then the workshop's probably elected to come themselves in the morning rather than send any of the staff." Sulpher approved, of course- the fewer people who knew they'd made a mistake, the better. With Roxis and Vayne generally being the more highly regarded members of the workshop he doubted even Flay was likely to spread this tale.

 

            "You're right," Roxis said at last, gingerly testing Vayne's leg a few more times. There was no sign of the previous break, although he was now hyper-aware of how _easy_ it would be to just... click Vayne's leg out of place like that again. That was disturbing on a very deep level, for a great many reasons. "Vayne, you should get some rest. There's no point in both us staying awake all night." Well, and Roxis wanted to think in peace, which wouldn't happen with Vayne awake- but he wasn't going to mention that.

 

            Roxis expected Vayne to protest being the only one to sleep, so he was a little surprised that the other alchemist tamely accepted his reasoning and was soon fast asleep.   Well. That worked out well; now he could think in peace.

 

            At least, he could have, if Sulpher hadn't decided that was a good enough cue to jump onto Roxis' chest again and settle himself with no sign of moving.

 

            "Aren't you supposed to be keeping watch?" Roxis asked him.

 

            "Yes," Sulpher agreed shamelessly, showing no sign of moving.

 

            Roxis sighed, because he knew better than to argue with a cat, and struggled a little more upright without dislodging Sulpher or disturbing Vayne. "So what is it, exactly, that you're doing instead? Aside from staring at me."

 

            "Waiting for you to come to your conclusion," Sulpher answered promptly, and then sat and lashed his tail while Roxis tried his best to ignore the cat and think.

 

            The exact moment Roxis figured things out must have been obvious to Sulpher, because the cat abruptly tensed and a gentle weight became claws digging through Roxis' clothing and into his skin.

 

            "Vayne's an artificial ma- but that means Theofratus- but...," Usually eloquent, Roxis struggled to put his realisation into words. "That's... impossible."

 

            "Humans," Eital snorted, stretching as she got up from guarding the door. "How can something that's already been achieved be impossible? Besides, you're an alchemist. You're _supposed_ to do the impossible."

 

            "Well, that's..."

 

            "Shh!" Eital's tail lashed, more violently than Sulpher's. "Seems they elected not to wait. I hear the beastgirl."

 

            Seconds later, Nikki, Flay and Jess skidded into the room, and after that they were swept into such a whirlwind of energy and activity (courtesy of Flay, mostly) and fussing (mostly... actually, Flay again) that it was well past dawn by the time Roxis had enough time to really think about things.

 

            By then, by their teammate's insistence, he and Vayne were resting in the loft, and Vayne had fallen soundly asleep again. Once again, Sulpher chose to join Roxis while Vayne slept.

 

            "You can't tell anyone," Sulpher said.

 

            Roxis stared out over his workshop. Pamela drifted through a wall and startled Nikki into dropping an ingredient into Jess' synthesis too soon, causing a small explosion, causing Anna to start scolding them into helping her clean, causing Flay to vanish to parts unknown.

 

            Roxis shook his head, dismayed. "Who would I _tell_?" After the silence stretched just long enough to start feeling awkward, he asked Sulpher the question that still nagged him, keeping his voice low. "What is he the Mana of?"

 

            Sulpher stared at him for a long moment, then began to groom himself. Roxis sighed, quite familiar with cat for 'not helping you with this,' and resigned himself to trying to sleep with it weighing on his mind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the tags say, Roxis is not an idiot. 
> 
> Also, damn it, while I doubt he actually knows what's up I always had the impression Flay at least suspected _something._

**Author's Note:**

> I've been a bit busy with work and with working on original fiction, but I am also now officially published! So that's awesome. There's more information on my profile for anyone who's interested.


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